Raegan Daugherty
Name: ______________________________________ Date: ________________________
Student Exploration: Energy of a Pendulum
Vocabulary: conservation of energy, gravitational potential energy, kinetic energy, pendulum,
potential energy, velocity
Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)
1. A toy car is about to roll down a track, as 2. A pendulum consists of a weight that is
shown below. At what point do you think suspended from a pivot. At what point will
the car will reach its greatest speed? the pendulum below move fastest?
Mark this point on the image. Mark this point on the image.
They both have alot of potential energy
3. What do these two situations have in common? ___________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Gizmo Warm-up
Objects have several types of energy. Potential energy depends on an object’s position or
shape. Kinetic energy is the energy of movement. The Energy of a Pendulum Gizmo allows
you to explore how the amounts of these types of energy change for a pendulum in motion.
1. On the DESCRIPTION pane, change the initial
angle (θ) to 40 degrees. Click Play ( ). How
does the velocity (speed and direction) of the
pendulum change as it swings from right to left?
As it swings from right to left it gets faster as it is near
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the middle, then slows doen and comes to an equal speed
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2. On the image at right, mark the point where the
pendulum swings fastest with an X. Then, circle
the two points where the velocity is zero.
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Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity A:
Click Reset ( ).
Potential and
Check that m is 0.5 kg, L is 2.0 m, g is 9.8 m/s2,
kinetic energy
and θ is 40 degrees.
Introduction: An object that is a certain height (h) above the ground has the potential to do
work, and therefore has potential energy. This type of potential energy is called gravitational
potential energy (GPE, or PE for short). The unit of energy is the joule (J).
Question: How are potential and kinetic energy related?
1. Observe: Select the BAR CHART tab. Click Play and observe. What do you notice about
the gravitational potential energy (PE), kinetic energy (KE), and total energy (TE)?
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As it starts swinging from right to left the PE (potential energy) and KE (kinetic energy) are
constantly increasing and decreasing at, (while the PE increases the KE decreases and
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constantly repeasts it) and the TE (total energy) remains constant
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2. Measure: Click Reset. Turn on Show numerical values.
2.29 J
A. What is the gravitational potential energy? ____________________
B. What is the kinetic energy? ____________________
0.00 J
C. What is the total energy? ____________________
2.29 J
3. Measure: Click Play, and then try to click Pause ( ) when the pendulum is in the middle of
its swing. (This might require several tries.)
0.00 J
A. What is the gravitational potential energy now? ____________________
2.29 J
B. What is the kinetic energy now? ____________________
C. What is the total energy? ____________________
2.29 J
4. Analyze: At any given time, what can you say about the total energy of the pendulum?
At any given time, the total energy of the pendulum would be 2.29 J.
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_________________________________________________________________________
This illustrates the principle of conservation of energy. In a closed system, energy can be
converted from one form to another, but the total amount of energy remains the same.
(Activity A continued on next page)
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Activity A (continued from previous page)
5. Interpret: Click Reset. Select the GRAPH tab and turn on the PE and KE checkboxes. Click
Play, wait about 4 seconds, and then click Pause.
What is the relationship between potential and kinetic energy? _______________________
The relationship between
_________________________________________________________________________
potential and kinetic energy would be that they are opposite to eachother
6. Match: The graph below shows the potential and kinetic energy curves for a pendulum.
Label each pendulum image with the corresponding letter on the graph (A, B, or C).
7. Apply: Suppose a pendulum starts with a potential energy of 100 J. Assuming the pendulum
has a height of 0 m at the bottom of its swing, what is its maximum kinetic energy? Explain.
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its maximum kinetic energy would be 100 J, because the potential energy completely converts
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to kinetic energy if the bottom of its swing is at 0m
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Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity B: Click Reset.
Set m to 1.0 kg, L to 1.0 m, and g to 1.0 m/s2.
Calculating
(Note: You can set the slider values directly by
potential energy
entering values into the text boxes.)
Set θ to 0 degrees.
Question: How is gravitational potential energy calculated?
1. Observe: Select the BAR CHART tab, and check that Show numerical values is on.
1.00 J
What is the potential energy of the pendulum? ____________________________________
2. Gather data: Record the potential energy of the pendulum for each of the following sets of
values for m, L, and g. Record the height (h) of the pendulum as well. (Because the
pendulum’s pivot is 2 m above the ground, the height is equal to 2 meters – L meters.)
m (kg) L (m) h (m) g (m/s2) PE (J)
0.5 kg 1.0 m 1.00m 6.0 m/s2 3.00 j
0.80m 2 1.60 J
1.0 kg 1.2 m 2.0 m/s
0.3 kg 1.1 m 0.90m 1.0 m/s2 0.27 J
0.2 kg 1.5 m 3.0 m/s2 0.30 J
0.50m
3. Find a pattern: What is the relationship between the potential energy of a pendulum and the
values for mass (m), height (h), and gravitational acceleration (g)?
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The relationship between the potential energy of a pendulum and the values for mass, height,
and gravitational acceleration is that the potential energy is equal to mass, height and gravitational
_________________________________________________________________________
acceleration multiplied by one another
4. Make a rule: Write an expression for potential energy based on m, h, and g. Test your
expression using the Gizmo.
PE =
mgh
5. Apply: What is the potential energy of a pendulum with a mass of 0.7 kg, a height of 0.3 m,
and a value of g equal to 9.8 m/s2?
The potential energy of the pendulum with a mass of 0.7 kg, a height of 0.3m and a value of g equal to
_________________________________________________________________________
9.8 m/s^2 is 2.058 J
Check your answer using the Gizmo. (Hint: Set the length of the pendulum to 1.7 m.)
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Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity C:
Select the DESCRIPTION tab.
Kinetic energy
Set m to 1.0 kg, L to 1.3 m, g to 1.0 m/s2, and θ to
and velocity –
40 degrees.
Question: How is potential energy converted to kinetic energy?
1. Observe: Select the BAR CHART tab, and check that Show numerical values is on.
1m
A. What is the height of the pendulum? ____________________
1.00 J
B. What is the potential energy of the pendulum? ____________________
0.00 J
C. What is the kinetic energy of the pendulum? ____________________
2. Observe: Click Play, and then click Pause when the pendulum is at the bottom of its swing.
0.70 m
A. What is the approximate height of the pendulum now? ____________________
0.70 J
B. What is the potential energy of the pendulum? ____________________
0.30 J
C. What is the kinetic energy of the pendulum? ____________________
3. Calculate: The formula for kinetic energy is as follows:
1 2
KE mv
2
Based on this formula, what is the velocity (v) of the pendulum at the bottom of its swing?
Show
G:
your work.
- Kinetic Energy: 0.30 J
- KE=1/2mv^2 (Formula)
- m= 1.0 kg
R: Velocity (v) at the bottom of its swing?
A: KE=1/2mv^2 KE/ ½*m=v^2
S:
- KE=1/2mv^2
- 0.30 J = ½*(1.0kg)v^2 (*v^2)
- 0.30 J = (0.5)*(v^2)/(0.5)
- (0.30 J)/(0.5) = v^2-
v^2 = 0.6- v^2 = (square root) 0.6
Velocity = ______________
0.77 m/s
- v^2 = 0.774596669241483 m/s
- v^2 = 0.77 m/sP:
Therefore, the velocity of the pendulum at the bottom of the swing is 0.77 m/s
4. Apply: Click Reset. Set m to 1.0 kg, L to 2.0 m, g to 9.8 m/s2, and θ to –40 degrees. What is
the maximum velocity of this pendulum? Show your work. (Hint: The exact height of the
pendulum is now 0.468 m.)
S:
G: - 1.0 kg x 9.8 m/s2x 0.468 m = 4.5864 J
- m = 1.0 kg - 4.5864 J = kinetic energy = ½ mv^2
- L = 2.0 m - 4.5864 J = ½ 1.0v^2- 9.1728 = v^2
- g = 9.8 m/s2 - v = 3.0286630713897510062
- -40 degrees P: Therefore, the maximum velocity of this pendulum is 3.03 m/s
- Height = 0.468m
R: Maximum velocity of this pendulum?
3.03 m/s
A: Find the KE and then use that to find the maximum velocity. (switching the formulas) Velocity = ______________
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